28 Apr2017
By Sungti Hsu
To understand more about attitudes toward professional ethics in preservice educator preparation, AACTE is collaborating with the National Council for the Advancement of Educator Ethics (NCAEE) to conduct a brief survey this spring. We invite you and your colleagues in both PK-12 and higher education to complete the survey by May 15, 2017.
This survey is intended to gather information regarding teacher educators’ beliefs about professional ethics as well as practices in educator ethics preparation across the nation. Responses will inform the future work of NCAEE, which was created following the 2015 release of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators (MCEE) by the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification.
27 Apr2017
By Judy Beck
D.C. is the place to be this June for the AACTE State Leaders Institute! If you are involved in leading a state chapter, I hope you will join me June 4-5 for this great advocacy event as part of the AACTE Washington Week.
Let me begin by saying this: Way to go, teacher education colleagues! Speaking and acting as one, we were able to advocate recently for the repeal of the federal regulations for teacher preparation programs. We need to continue the forward momentum. Our work is not done. It has never been more imperative to bring a strong unified voice to both the national and state discussion. That is why I encourage you to participate in the State Leaders Institute (SLI) during AACTE’s Washington Week.
24 Apr2017
By Jerrica Thurman
(April 24, 2017, Washington D.C.) – Today, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) launches its inaugural Quality Support Workshop in Fort Worth, Texas. The workshop, which runs through Wednesday, is the first in a new series of regional events focused on supporting teacher preparation providers to improve program quality. By providing a forum for educators to share experiences about program innovation and construct solutions to shared problems of practice, the Quality Support Workshops aim to meet the present-day needs of teacher educators.
Offered through the Association’s Quality Support Center, these workshops deliver professional development for assessment, accreditation, and documenting quality assurance in convenient sites around the country. Each event connects participants with specialists in facilitated, hands-on sessions where faculty can share strategies and develop customized, actionable plans for use in their home institutions.
24 Apr2017
By Rebecca Gutierrez
Education Talk Radio, an online radio show airing PK-12 and higher education discussions for education professionals, hosted AACTE members last week for the first of several monthly segments that will highlight aspects of members’ teacher preparation work.
Diane Fogarty from Loyola Marymount University (CA), John Henning from Monmouth University (NJ), John Jacobson from Ball State University (IN), and AACTE’s Rod Lucero joined Larry Jacobs, host of Education Talk Radio, for the April 17 show.
The discussion centered on clinical practice models employed by these three institutions to provide teacher candidates not only strong classroom experience but also an understanding of the context of students’ local communities.
24 Apr2017
By Renée A. Middleton
Dr. Lynn M. Gangone
As chair of the AACTE Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce that effective June 1, the next president and CEO of AACTE will be Dr. Lynn M. Gangone. She was selected by unanimous decision of the Executive Search Committee following an extensive search process that involved the Board, staff, and our soon-to-retire President/CEO Sharon P. Robinson. Please join me in welcoming her to AACTE!
Gangone has exemplary strengths in four core areas important to AACTE:
21 Apr2017
By Deborah Koolbeck
Why bother engaging in advocacy?
As we say on AACTE’s Advocacy Center: “It sounds funny, but at least where public policy is concerned, it’s true: If you are not at the table, you are probably on the menu. The educator preparation profession engages in advocacy to help shape policy that will affect the field. While AACTE advocates on behalf of the profession at the federal level, your voice as a constituent is also critical – in Washington, DC, as well as in state and local issues.”
21 Apr2017
By Zachary VanHouten
UPDATE: The deadline to submit full applications has been extended to June 21.
The U.S. Department of Education has posted an announcement in the Federal Register opening applications for a new set of Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) Program grants. The deadline to submit the intent to apply for these grants is May 5, and full applications are due June 19.
21 Apr2017
By Zachary VanHouten
AACTE congratulates 2017 National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee, who teaches 9th-grade humanities at Codman Academy Charter Public School in Boston, Massachusetts. (See AACTE’s press release issued today.)
Chaffee, who has been a teacher for a decade, earned her bachelor’s degree in women’s history and writing from Sarah Lawrence College (NY) and her master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Lesley University (MA).
21 Apr2017
By Deborah Koolbeck
It’s a common question: “What is happening in Washington, DC?”
Well, AACTE is happy to fill you in. We offer free monthly webinars to update members on the latest developments on Capitol Hill and beyond that have implications for the educator preparation profession. We even offer the same webinar twice in a row to accommodate different schedules and time zones.
18 Apr2017
By Rebecca Gutierrez
Have you seen the latest issue of Scholars Report, the monthly e-newsletter from the AACTE Holmes Scholars Council? This free publication highlights the work of Holmes Program participants as well as opportunities and resources for the community. View the full newsletter here or read on for highlights from this month’s issue.
18 Apr2017
By Sungti Hsu
AACTE and Westat are partnering with state chapters and education agencies this spring to pilot new surveys of beginning teachers and their supervisors. By developing common instruments to be used across states that can also be customized with state-specific questions, the partners aim to fill the need for both national benchmarks for preparation programs (as called for in accreditation standards) and state-determined priorities.
AACTE staff conducted exploratory work last year, collecting and studying state-level instruments currently used for surveying program completers in 13 states that were willing to share both their instruments and their most recent survey results. We found that all of the instruments align with the InTASC model standards for beginning teachers, although their length and emphasis areas vary. Meanwhile, we began talking with state education agencies (SEAs) and AACTE state chapters and member institutions to gauge their interest in consolidating these state and institution data collection efforts in a national-level instrument.
18 Apr2017
By JTE Insider
Have you seen the JTE Insider blog managed by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team? Check out the latest author interview below.
In this interview, Ilana Seidel Horn, Brette Garner, Britnie Delinger Kane, and Jason Brasel of Vanderbilt University discuss the research behind their recent article, “A Taxonomy of Instructional Learning Opportunities in Teachers’ Workgroup Conversations.” The article is available in the January/February 2017 issue of the journal.
18 Apr2017
By Shalander Samuels
Congratulations to April Holmes Scholar of the Month Dwayne Cormier!
Cormier is a second-year Ph.D. candidate in the College of Education at Pennsylvania State University, studying curriculum and instruction with an emphasis on curriculum and supervision. His research interests include how culture and context influence engagement in educational settings, as well as the impact of memes on the thoughts and ideals of citizens.
A military veteran and former executive director of a nonprofit organization that changed the lives of young people through the game of golf, Cormier recognized the need to aid students of color in the education system and vowed to make an impact in the classroom through science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. Over the years, his experiences in and outside of the classroom have given him insight on the inequities facing students, preservice and in-service teachers, and administration in educational organizations.
13 Apr2017
By Matthew Wales
Are you a new dean or department chair – or simply looking to advance your career as an academic administrator? Get off to a strong start with AACTE’s Leadership Academy this June in Providence, Rhode Island.
The annual Leadership Academy, a popular professional development event for new administrators, has been reimagined for 2017 to provide even more of what you need. Our experienced faculty will guide your learning and provide beneficial information and strategies around allocating resources, managing conflict, and promoting your programs and institutions. To learn more about this year’s content, be sure to visit the detailed 2017 Leadership Academy schedule online.
12 Apr2017
By Kristin McCabe
Have you signed up yet for AACTE’s online short course Designing Assessments to Measure Student Outcomes? If not, we’d love to have you join us for the next session, opening May 1.
In this free 3-week seminar on the popular FutureLearn platform, you’ll learn about key assessment principles and how to design and use rubrics and surveys. Topics include –
